Thursday, May 26, 2005

Drunk on cocquito,
part one of the infamous never appearing post,
thesis to the stars.


You're really cool and you made my toes curl.

Thanks for the advice, it got me feeling good enough to start writing my überpost that's been so long in the putting off.

And in the greater, drunker footsteps before me, yes-- the asian red has set in with just a small glass full of ice and coquito! I miss Puerto Rico a lot. (though i have a bunch more pics from the trip i want to resize & post about... rio camuy, lares! etx) Sweet tastes and smells like nothing else!

But I digress, as I wanted to ask...

ever taken a shower in the dark?

Maybe its not a new thing to you, but it is for me. Well, sorta... Berkeley went thru a "brownout" cycle a few years back and I remember showering and the lights went out in georgia... but I didn't have an epiphany that day (just was pissed i had no a/c to contribute to the over-enroned power drain and had to spend a nice afternoon in a cold shower alone to bear being, well...alone).

Sitting at the bottom of a shower in the dark, and this time it was hot instead of cold, I figured out why i had been having such a hard time trying to write down this thing that's just HUGE in my mind. I pay way more attention to the water in the dark. (and how nice water in the dark could be shared! but thats neither here nor there...)

I was skimming over my old notes and my old blog posts and realized there's a common thread/theme that wasn't really, consciously there on my part to begin with. In particular:

The "online poker" googlebomb, wikipedia y bloggers

Affiliates use wiki googlebomb concept to falsely achieve googlepagerank

Online poker stalls in North Dakota, popular culture versus highhanded politicos

Second NoDak online poker failure, puritanical doj versus popcult again

States' reliance on gambling revenues, reflection of social norm of in-state gambling (and the difference btw that and online is debated, but one does not eschew morality of one and not the other!)

No us banks for wlo's bellyflop/float

Another no banks article

And ANOTHER no us banks article

Esquire stands up to the DOJ in online poker ad battle?

(see why its so hard to start?)

First (im really tired and/or asian red-ed, so if i ramble or stop in the middle, ill start again tomorrow but youll at least have the links to news i want to talk about in those links ^), the leading premise in my mind is that the greater society at large enjoys/endorses the game of poker as a new cultural phemonemon. I'd go on and ramble about it but imma a poseur who has no og "watch it happen" street cred, but I'm guessing you'll listen to Stackstown on pop poker phenom (said with lipgloss, this is fun)... so here you go for that initial premise.

I was at my local walgreens and they had no fewer than five poker chip sets for sale at the front register and two "learn to play the" dvds too. National HA on NBC. 3 Sports Illustrated articles on poker this week! A Maxim June 2005 spread on Dan N., Erick L. and Josh A. that is laced with more fishhooks than even my grandpa had in his multitudious tackleboxes. Esquire taking the heat in the b!tches kitchen and keeps carrying online poker advertising in this month's issue, even after being warned by the DOJ not to do so. CNN Money article uses poker metaphors for investing, and so does the Motley Fool. And how about this ed piece: poker reflects our country's emphasis on self-reliance.

I know there are dissenting opinions to this. The Christian Science Monitor wrote a piece about the temptations of online gambling (well, they SAY they wrote that article, but all that's mentioned after the 1st paragraph denouncing online poker was that porn on the internet is tempting to kids. wtf?? i *like* csm's reporting and thought this was written by some bizzaro hunter thompson, drinking all the pills but being incredibly still inside about the raging world around.) Kyl's at it again to "only" clarify the Wire Act to make it specifically apply to online gambling, and the only one who wants to adhere to the Antigua/WTO decision.

But as a whole, as a 1st day at episode III kinda society who actually drives to the supermarket a few blocks away and whose "impulse item" is a poker chip case and dealer button when buying dipes and wipes for the mrs., its pervasive and accepted.

Duh. Jesus y cristo aK, we all know that. Epiphany my arse, I'm going home to take a shower in the dark myself.

:)

That's just the basic groundwork for the links I've been thinking about, the news they contain.

(fell asleep on keybrd. will continue tomorrow-- )

aK
GamesGrid

3:56:07 AM  
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